First Rule of Guitar Club - there are no rules to Guitar Club - You play what you want and nobody can say a damn thing. Fuck 'em if they don't like it. There are no rules to playing guitar. Kill anyone who tells you otherwise.

Second Rule - None of us have any idea what we are doing and even less of an idea of what the other guy is trying to do.

Just some random thoughts:

Your best performance combines your most well integrated techniques executed at your best and played with a focus and passion that transcends your "normal" mental space.

You can play any key in any position using any scale anywhere on the guitar.

Fingers are preferred to picks.

Time is our master. We always serve it. Learn to twist it, tempt it, beat it like a bitch and return it as it was, unharmed.

If you can't play it live w/out effects then you can't play it. If you can't play it you can't claim it. You are ONLY as good as you are alone, with one instrument and (optionally for us singers) your voice. It's you alone. Move us or get out of the way and take your effects racks, your eq, your lighting, your drum machine and all the rest of that crap with you.

If you can't play it live w/out effects then you can't play it. If you can't play it you can't claim it. You are ONLY as good as you are alone, with one instrument and (optionally for us singers) your voice. It's you alone. Move us or get out of the way and take your effects racks, your eq, your lighting, your drum machine and all the rest of that crap with you.

Um, refer yourself back to rule one maybe?

Your best performance combines your most well integrated techniques executed at your best and played with a focus and passion that transcends your "normal" mental space.

That sounds dynamic and synergistic! Stop fooling with the empty management speak and give yourself a break man. Take all thoughts of 'best' out of your head and you might find it easier to deal with the concept of 'playing', rather than giving yourself a self actualisation course every time you pick up the guitar.

And your 'best' is whatever people say it is. They are the ones listening.

I'm going to ask a question. What constitutes an instrument? I seriously regard an electric guitar and it's amp as being part of a whole. The amp is effectively the soundboard/body, so therefore any sound you get is equally as valid as any acoustic instrument. You can add pedals in, too.

Loads of guys and girls on here know what they are doing. Thats what enables people like us to learn from them. Show a little respect. Theres many novices on the big road, but more than a few wise, able souls who have done much, know much and are kind enough to spread a little guidance around for those who care to listen.

It is possible to learn alot from people who may not play your instrument as well as you do, overall. I've been playin' harp for over 40 years, and I've learned many things from guys who are generally not considered to be as "good" as me. I've learned licks (or been encouraged to work on licks) from guys who are half my age and who've been playin' for just a few years. It's a big ol' world out there and I prefer not to limit myself to a "parochial" attitude.

First Rule of Guitar Club - there are no rules to Guitar Club - You play what you want and nobody can say a damn thing. Fuck 'em if they don't like it. There are no rules to playing guitar. Kill anyone who tells you otherwise.

well, if you apply this one, the rest is obsolete, so I guess you better apply it strict (apart from the "kill" part, that is or we'd all be doing that to you right now )

and me? I just scratch those strings and hope something nice will come out.

best performance? no idea, but I DO know you're only as good as your last performance...

Fingers are better than picks? That is a statement that needs qualifying. Many of the "greatest" guitar players use flat picks, many use their fingers, and many use finger picks. There are some lines that are virtually impossible to play without a flat pick, and many that are just about impossible with one. The use of picks (or effects, to address another point) is a matter of the players' and audiences' tastes. Better and best are purely subjective descriptions, if you like fingers better, go ahead and say so, but to say that they are better is a little silly.

As for playing by one's self, without effects, I agree and disagree. If you can not move people without 12 pedals on your board, you are certainly a less versatile musician. One one hand, Dylan got booed by folk purists at Newport for pluging in, on the other, I'd be a little pissed off to show up at an AC/DC show and find out that it was only going to be Angus seranading us to the sounds of his acoustic guitar. There are some songs I play on my electric that sound a little campy on the acoustic, and some I play on the acoustic that sound too harsh on the electric. Furthermore, what would Voodoo Chile' with out the Wah?

Hope I don't come off too harshly, I realize that you were just stating your opinions, and for the most part I agree.